Use Goal Setting Effectively
This is a excerpt from Confessions of a Business Coach: Sales is More Than a Good Marketing Plan, available on Amazon.
We’ve all heard about the power of setting goals. Everyone has surely seen statistics that connect goal setting to success in both your business life, and your personal life. I’m sure if I asked you today what your goals are, you could rattle off a few wants and hopes without thinking too long.
However, what most people do not realize is that the power of goal setting lies in writing goals down. Committing goals to paper and reviewing them regularly gives you a 95% higher chance of achieving your desired outcomes. Studies have shown that only three to five percent of people in the world have written goals – the same three to five percent who have achieve success in business and earn considerable wealth.
These studies have also found that by retirement, only four per cent of people in the world will have enough accumulated wealth to maintain their income level, and quality of life. As a business owner, it is essential that you develop a plan for your retirement, but it is equally essential that you develop a plan for your success.
What are Goals?
Goals are clear targets that are attached to a specific time frame and action plan; they focus your efforts, and drive your motivation in a clear direction. Goals are different from dreams in that they outline a plan of action, while dreams are a conceptual vision of your wish or desired outcome.
Goals require work; work on yourself, work for your business, and work for others. You cannot achieve a goal – no matter how badly you want it – without being prepared to make a considerable effort. If you are ready to invest your time and energy, goals will help you to:
· Realize a dream or wish for your personal or business life
· Make a change in your life – add positive, or remove negative
· Improve your skills and performance ability
· Start or change a habit – positive or negative
Why Set Goals?
As we’ve already reviewed, setting goals and committing them to paper is the most effective way to cultivate success. The most important reason to set a goal is to attach a clear action plan to a desired outcome.
Goals help focus our time and energy on one (or several) key outcome at a time. Many business owners have hundreds of ideas whirring around in their heads at any one time, on top of daily responsibilities. By writing down and focusing on a few ideas at a time, you can prioritize and concentrate your efforts, avoid being stretched too thin, and produce greater results.
Since goals attach action to outcomes, goals can help to break down big dreams into manageable (and achievable) sections. Creating a multi-goal strategy will put a road map in place to help you get to your desired outcome. If your goal is to start a pizza business and make six figures a year, there are a number of smaller steps to achieve before you achieve your end result.
Success doesn’t happen by itself. It is the result of consistent and committed action by an individual who is driven to achieve something. Success means something different for everyone, so creating goals is a personal endeavor. Goals can be large and small, personal and public, financial and spiritual. It is not the size of the goal that matters; what matters is that you write the goal down, create a plan of action and commit to making the effort required to achieve it.
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